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Color Rings
The colored concentric circles used in the introduction of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons changed every release season. 1936: Blue-Purple Rings, Black Background, Red Shield Used from early to late 1936. "I Think You're Ducky" plays and each rendition is slightly different in each cartoon played. This scheme debuted on "I Wanna Play House". File:1936_merrie_melodies_intro.png File:1936.jpg 1936 MM.jpg 1936 end.jpg 1936-1937: Blue Rings, Black Background, Blue Shield Used from late 1936-1937. "I Think You're Ducky" is replaced with "Merrily We Roll Along", which would be the theme of the series until 1964. The shield's color is now blue instead of red. "Boulevardier from the Bronx" uses a special opening title, including a new Merrie Melodies font, but this was quickly reverted back. The first 5 cartoons in this season (Boulevardier from the Bronx, Don't Look Now, The Coo-Coo Nut Grove, He Was Her Man and Pigs is Pigs) play this song at a very fast pace. However, starting with March 1937's "I Only Have Eyes for You", the tempo slowed down. In July 1937's Egghead Rides Again, a twanging noise would be heard when the shield zoomed in on screen. In addition, beginning with "Plenty of Money and You", the closing theme would also be "Merrily We Roll Along". 1936-1937-1.jpg 1936-1937 MM-0.jpg 1936-1937 end-0.jpg 1937-1938: Orange-Yellow Rings, Black Background, Blue Shield Used from late 1937-1938. The production code moves to the first opening title, the Merrie Melodies font changes from being puffy to thin and more curved, and the opening theme now had a largely dominant woodwind arrangement for the opening and closing. In January 1938's "My Little Buckaroo", the opening theme was sparsely modified. Later on, starting with August 1938's "The Major Lied 'Til Dawn", it was changed again, this time with a concert band full of wind instruments. Almost every short closed with the 1937-38 closing theme, with the only exception being "The Major Lied 'Til Dawn" and "You're an Education", which featured a new arrangement adapted from the opening theme. Starting with "Cracked Ice", the "That's all Folks!" text was changed to resemble the text used for Looney Tunes during the 1935-1936 season, albeit without the quotation marks. In addition, the "Merrie Melodies" text in the closing title now resembled the 1933-1937 Merrie Melodies logo. The first ending title card is used in the 1995 Turner dub. 1937-1938-0.jpg 1937-1938 MM-0.jpg 1937-1938 end 1-0.jpg 1937-1938 end 2-0.jpg 1938-1939: Green-Yellow Rings, Black Background, Red Shield This was used during the 1938-1939 season. The shield's color is changed back to red. The opening theme still remains the same as August 1938. The closing theme is the same as in "You're an Education". In 1939, the opening theme was heavily modified and made a much more perfect version of the theme with trombones. Also, starting with May 1939's "Naughty but Mice", "Vitaphone" is changed to "Warner Bros." and "Presents" and changed to "Present". There is also a variant in June 1939's "Believe It Or Else" where "Warner Bros." is in a different font (similar to the Looney Tunes openings from 1939) and the shield is large like in the "Vitaphone Presents" cartoons from 1936 through 1939. In addition, starting with August 1939's "Detouring America", the banner was removed. 1938-1939-0.jpg File:MMWB-BelieveItOrElse.PNG.png File:Merrie_Melodies_studio_card_7.PNG File:MerrieMelodiesWarnerBrosStudioCard1939.PNG 1938-1939 MM-0.jpg 1938-1939 end-0.jpg 1939-early 1940: Red, White and Blue Rings, Cloudy Sky Background, Transparent Red Shield Used from 1939 to early 1940. The opening and closing theme is exactly the same. Also, the cloud background resembles the cloud background from the modern-day Warner Bros. Pictures logo. As for the closing screen, the exclamation mark in the "That's all Folks!" text is on the inside of the quotation marks as opposed to the outside, meaning that this text has almost reached its finalized version. 1939-1940.jpg 1939-1940 MM.jpg 1939-1940 end.jpg Mid-late 1940: Red, White and Blue Rings, Black Background, Red Shield Used from 1940. Everything else remains the same except the "That's all Folks!" text, which has reached its finalized version, as well as the shield itself, starting with July 1940's "A Wild Hare". Mid 1940.jpg File:Mm-rainbow1-2.jpg Mid 1940 MM.jpg Mid 1940 end.jpg 1940-1941: Orange Rings, Black Background, Red Shield Used from 1940-1941. "Malibu Beach Party" is the only cartoon where the music is exactly the same as before. After that, it was changed to a sparsely modified version which sounds like a mix of the 1938-1939 and 1939-1940 themes. The closing theme is the same until April 1941's "Toy Trouble", when the opening and closing themes were heavily modified and more brassy. The Merrie Melodies font was changed again. In "The Heckling Hare", Bugs Bunny appears on top of the shield, munching on a carrot, then pulls down the Merrie Melodies title card like a shade. This intro resembles the original 1937-1938 Merrie Melodies intro. 1940-1941.jpg 1940-1941 BB.jpg 1940-1941 MM.jpg 1940-1941 end.jpg 1941-1942: Dark Blue-Purple Rings, Black Background, Red Shield Used from 1941-1942 shorts. The music is the same as 1941. A variant, introduced this season, appears with Bugs Bunny munching on the carrot except instead of pulling the logo down, he angrily glares at the camera, and the Merrie Melodies title card fades in. This variant only appears on Bugs Bunny cartoons. Starting with January 1942's "The Bird Came C.O.D.", the design of the shield changed again. This intro resembles the original 1936 Merrie Melodies intro. 1941-1942.jpg 1941-1942 2-0.jpg 1941-1942 2.jpg 1941-1942 4.jpg 1941-1942 MM.jpg 1941-1942 end.jpg 1942-1943: Red Rings, Black Background, Red Shield Used from 1942-1943. Everything is the same. This is the first Looney Tunes season to use the concentric circles. The black-and-white Looney Tunes shorts used a variant where the circles were gray. Apparently, however, in no B&W LT cartoon did they refuse to use the 1940-1942 shield, even to the point where all shields from that era, even the new shield they introduced in October 1943's "Falling Hare", were used in tandem with each other! Only when they stopped making B&W cartoons altogether did they stop using the 1940-1942 shield, as well as the 1942-1943 one. 1942-1943 1.jpg 1942-1943 2.jpg 1942-1943 3.jpg 1942-1943 LT.jpg 1942-1943 MM.jpg 1942-1943 end.jpg 1944-1945: Blue Rings, Red Background, Red Shield Used from 1944-1945. Everything else is the same, except the Merrie Melodies text gets a new design that would last from "Meatless Flyday" until 1954 (when the studio reopened they used the smaller backgrounds for widescreen shorts). Starting with "Hare Ribbin'", a new Bugs Bunny variant is introduced this season where the Warner Bros. shield zooms in, then it fades to a grinning mugshot of Bugs Bunny. The new Bugs Bunny variant is once again only seen on Bugs Bunny cartoons. Also, "Produced by Leon Schlesinger" changes to "Produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons Inc." briefly before changing to "A WARNER BROS. CARTOON" due to Leon Schlesinger selling his studio to Warner Bros.. In addition, starting with "Stage Door Cartoon", the byline "PICTURES INC." is added under "WARNER BROS." In the closing title, the "Merrie Melodies" text now resembles the Merrie Melodies logo used from 1937-1940. 1944-1945 1.jpg 1944-1945 2.jpg 1944-1945 3.jpg 1944 1945 BB 1.jpg 1944-1945 BB 2.jpg 1944-1945 LT.jpg 1944-1945 MM 1.jpg 1944-1945 MM 2.jpg 1944-1945 MM 3.jpg 1944-1945 end.jpg 1944-1945 end 2.jpg 1945-1946: Red Rings, Black Background, Red Shield Used from 1945-1946. Everything is the same except the opening themes for both series are shortened due to the addition of credited staff. A new Bugs Bunny opening title variant was also introduced this season, which is essentially a re-animated version of "The Heckling Hare" variant. These backgrounds resemble the ones from the 1942-43 animation season. 1945-1946 1.jpg 1945-1946 2.jpg 1945-1946 LT 1.jpg 1945-1946 LT 2.jpg 1945-1946 MM.jpg 1945-1946 end.jpg 1946-1947: Blue-Red Rings, Red Background, Red Shield Used from 1946-1947. Looney Tunes added the "That's all Folks!" text at the end, similar to how Merrie Melodies did it and how Looney Tunes did it from 1936 to 1937. By this year, the drum ending was eliminated. Only two LT cartoons, "Kitty Kornered" and "Acrobatty Bunny", used the 1945-1946 opening theme, but not the 1941-1946 closing theme. "Kitty Kornered" used the 1941-1955 MM closing theme for some reason, while "Acrobatty Bunny" used a redone instrumental rendition of the 1941-1946 LT closing theme. Starting with July 1946's "The Great Piggy Bank Robbery", the opening and closing themes were modified, this time being much louder with the closing theme finally filling in that gap in the second half. For some reason, in that cartoon, along with "Kitty Kornered", the WB Shield does not zoom in. Everything else, especially those for MM, remains the same, until in August 1947's "A Pest in the House", when the shield design changes again. However, this is only apparent outside of Bugs Bunny cartoons. 1946-1947 1.jpg 1946-1947 2.jpg 1946-1947 MM.jpg 1946-1947 LT 1.jpg 1946-1947 LT 2.jpg 1946-1947 LT 3.jpg 1946-1947 MM Title.jpg File:Merriemelodies1946b.jpg File:LT_1946_Closing_Title.jpg 1947-1948: Red Rings, Blue Background, Red Shield Used from 1947-1948. Everything is mostly the same, except now on the standard versions the WB shield zooms to a slightly larger size, and appears somewhat wider and off-model after zooming up. Both the ending cards from this season are used in the 1995 Turner dub. File:WBBigShield1946MM.PNG.png File:WBBigShield1946LT.PNG.png File:Warner-bros-cartoons-1947-merrie-melodies_bugs.jpg File:Warner-bros-cartoons-1947-looney-tunes_bugs.JPG.jpg File:MerrieMelodies1947b.jpg File:1947-1948_LT-0.jpg File:WarnerBrosMMClosing002.PNG.png File:LT_1947_End_Title.jpg 1947-1949: Green Rings, Red Background, Red Shield This is the last Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes titles where Bugs Bunny sits on the top of the shield, which began with "The Heckling Hare" in 1941. AED3BF79-FD23-489C-A497-0D91A2179780.jpeg File:1948-1949_3-0.jpg 0097775A-1358-45D3-9BE9-25C902C01585.jpeg F8972383-3D7D-423B-86B6-FF5E3209C283.jpeg File:1948PorkyPigLooneyTunes.PNG.png File:Looneytunes1944a.jpg File:LoneCinecolor.PNG.png 0AFF0226-CC8A-4C3B-A716-E82365037287.jpeg 1948-1949: Orange-Yellow Rings, Blue Background, Red Shield LT.jpg File:1-6-.jpg MMorange1.jpg File:1280x720-r3z-1-.jpg LT2.jpg File:2-3-.jpg MMorange2.jpg LTend.jpg MMorangeend.jpg 1950: Green-Yellow Rings, Black Background, Red Sheld 1949-1951: Red/Yellow Rings, Black Background, Red Shield 1952-1953 Blue-Red Rings, Red Background, Red Shield 1952-1953 Green-Yellow Rings, Red Background, Red Shield 1953-1955 Orange-Yellow Rings, Blue Background, Red Shield 1954-1955: Pink Rings, Blue Background, Red Shield 1955-1956: Green-Yellow Rings, Red Background, Red Shield 1956-1957: Red-Yellow Rings, Green Background, Red Shield 1957-1959: Blue Rings, Red Background, Red Shield 1959-1964: Crimson Rings, Blue Background, Red Shield Category:Galleries Category:Looney Tunes